SCIE press release

Dementia 2013

09 April 2013

"Dementia 2013" is the Alzheimer's Society's annual report, providing a snapshot of how well people
are living with dementia, what support they are receiving, and what barriers they face. Here is SCIE's response:

This important report from Alzheimer's Society shines a light on how well people are living with dementia.
The report acknowledges that some progress has been made over the last year and welcomes the priority that
politicians and policy makers are giving to this often neglected group. But fine words and good intentions
are never enough and the practical experiences of many people living with dementia demonstrate that we still
have a lot to do.

A key focus of the report is the damaging impact loneliness and isolation can have - an echo of
SCIE's own research , which found that
social isolation and loneliness have a detrimental effect on health and wellbeing. Our own work
supports Alzheimer's Society's call to develop more dementia-friendly communities and we know that
to achieve this we need to raise even further general awareness about dementia. SCIE has a
wealth of resources from Social Care TV films
to eLearning, that have a valuable role to play in supporting the development of a more dementia-aware
general public.

I am glad that SCIE will also be working with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
to support the dissemination and adoption of their new Quality Standard supporting people to live well with dementia,
which will also help to address many of the concerns raised by Alzheimer's Society in their report.